


Cavern Song

by Java_bean



Series: 500 Follower Fic Requests [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb/Sgrub Sessions, Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Music, Trolls on Earth, technically I think that's what it would go under
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-06 19:09:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15201503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Java_bean/pseuds/Java_bean
Summary: Karkat goes to music camp so he can learn how to socialize with humans better and maybe even make some friends.  There's only one problem with this plan- he doesn't know anything about human music.After a long and frustrating night alone trying to teach himself how to play the piano, a mysterious stranger offers him some much needed help.





	Cavern Song

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was requested with a beautiful prompt from Sam @notedchampagne (apocalypticTaco) that was an utter joy to write. (They give the best prompts in the world I swear).   
> This fic was really fun to write, and I'm hoping it's just as fun to read! <3
> 
> (important note: I know absolutely nothing about music, but I tried my best).

For someone as vocal as you are, you tend to keep quiet when it comes to anything personal. You can’t spill your guts to just anybody, no matter how much you may like to do so. Back on Alternia, that kind of thing could’ve landed you in some deep shit. 

But you’re not on Alternia anymore. 

You haven’t been for months. 

That’s still something you’re getting used to. It’s difficult, but you’re trying.

It doesn’t really help that you don’t know anyone on this entire planet aside from your hivemates. You technically didn’t know anyone back on Alternia, either, since you never left your hive if you could help it. But you did meet people online, through trollian. People you considered friends.

You haven’t even had that measly amount of social interaction since you got here. The moment you left, your trollian account was disabled and you were informed that you were not to talk to anyone you knew from before. A precautionary measure in case you let something slip about your less than legal relocation. 

You get it, you really do. Just because you understand doesn’t mean you like it, though. 

You get... _really_ fucking lonely sometimes.

It’s not something you’ve ever mentioned, but you think your hivemates must have noticed. You can’t think of a better explanation for why they would cut your adjustment time short abandon you at some shitty camp for a week or so.

Music camp, no less.

You know fuck all about music and have never given any indication of knowing any shit about the subject. Sure, you have the lyrics to a lot of songs memorized, and you can kind of read notes, but that’s it. That’s the single turd nugget of knowledge you have. Definitely not enough to justify sending you to a camp fucking dedicated to the entire damn subject. 

But no matter how much you pointed this fact out between bitch fits, going to music camp wasn’t your decision to make. You were packed into the scuttle buggy and driven to camp despite your protests against it. 

“You’ll have a good time there.” You were told. “It’ll be good for you to be out of the hive for awhile. Meet people your own age before school starts. Socialize. Make friends. It’ll be good for you, I promise.”

You reply without looking at him. You stare out the window and watch buildings rush by.“I still think this idea is shit.” 

“Yes,” he replies, “you’ve made that much clear.”

“And yet here we are.”

The drive is short. You arrive sooner than you expected. You know you’re supposed to get out of the vehicle now, but you just sit there and stare out at the unfamiliar landscape. It just looks so _alien_ to you. The thought of being left completely alone in such a strange environment is enough to put you on edge. 

How much begging would it take to convince him to go back?

“Karkat,” you shift around in your seat to face him, “here.”

He presses something smooth and metallic into your hand. It’s warm from his pocket, but not as warm as you notice his hand is. He keeps his hand on top of yours for what feels like an uncomfortably long time. 

After he finally pulls his hand away, you examine the thing he gave you. “You got me a palmhusk?”

“The common term here is cell phone,” he corrects, “and yes, I did. I was going to give it to you as a present for your first day of school, but I thought you might benefit from having it now. The only numbers in the contacts are Kankri’s and my cell phone and the number for the house. If you need anything, feel free to call.”

“Okay.” You look through your contacts. There are only the three numbers, just like he said. You feel a little better about leaving now that you have a way to contact him. You start to push your door open. “Thank you.”

“Wait, one more thing,” he stops you before you get out, “I just want you to know that if this...ends up being too much for you right now or if you get overwhelmed, then it’s okay for you to call me to pick you up. It’s important that you get used to being around people, but it’s more important that you feel comfortable and safe. You understand that you can call me no matter what, right?”

“Yeah.” You nod. You have no idea how to respond to this. “If I need anything, I’ll call.”

“Promise?” He asks skeptically. 

“Promise.” You climb out of the car. “I’ll...see you later.”

“Yes.” He nods. “Good bye. Have fun, try to make friends.”

“I will.” You close the car door. He waves at you as he starts driving away, and you wave back even though you’re not even sure he can see you.

And just like that, you’re alone.

You turn around. The building you’re supposedly having camp in isn’t the biggest you’ve ever seen, but given the situation it looms over you. You start walking towards it with your head down. 

There’s no one on the side of the building you’re dropped off in front of, so you turn the corner to find people scattered all over the place in groups. Most of them are talking loudly, others laughing, some standing close to each other and speaking in hushed tones. You think they’re all waiting for something. Maybe this is the only room open right now? You’d ask, but at this point you’d feel like you’re interrupting something.

You shuffle your feet and look for an empty spot to stand around and wait until whatever the fuck’s supposed to happen next starts. You find a free space of wall between two groups of people and settle there. You shift your bag off of your shoulder and into your arms. There’s nothing for you to do right now, so you look around at the people you’re supposed to be spending the next few days with.

They all look about your age, which was to be expected but is still a little jarring of an experience for you. You’ve never seen this many people your age in one place before. What’s more nerve wracking is that it seems like they’re all human. Everywhere you look, there’s no horns, no grey skin, no visible fangs or claws to speak of. 

It occurs to you that you might be the only troll here. 

You slide down the wall and sit on the floor. You feel like you’re standing out like a bleeding thumb, so you try to make yourself small. 

“Do you mind if I sit with you?”

You look up and oh thank fuck. Turns out you’re not the only troll here, after all. 

“Yeah, sure.” You scoot over. “Go ahead.”

“Thank you." She takes a seat beside you and adjusts her skirt beneath her. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around before, are you new?”

“Yeah.” You nod. “I’m Karkat.”

“Kanaya.” She holds her hand out to you. You shake hands, her palm is soft and warm. “I wasn’t expecting to see any other trolls here. Those I’ve met in the past didn’t have much interest in music. Do you play any instruments?”

“Not really." This is the first conversation with someone outside your hive. So far it’s going a lot better than you thought it would. “Do you?”

“I had piano lessons when I was younger, and recently I’ve taken the guitar.”

You have no idea what the fuck that means, and it shows. 

“That look on your face leads me to believe that you don’t know what I’m talking about.” She says. “You haven’t been on Earth very long, have you?”

“Fuck, is it that obvious?” You groan, leaning heavily against the wall and holding your bag closer to yourself. “I’ve only been here a couple months.”

“I see.” Kanaya nods. “I’ve lived here my whole life, so if there’s anything you need to know I could probably help. ”

“Thanks.” How much dumb luck did it take for you to end up talking with such a nice person? “I could tell you about Alternia, if you want?”

She probably already knows all about Alternia, but it’s not like you have anything else to offer. Kanaya smiles, her whole face brightening. You can see just how sharp her fangs are as they glint off the artificial lights.

“Please, tell me all about it.”

Maybe she doesn’t know as much about Alternia as you thought.

You end up talking on the floor with Kanaya for awhile. You trade information about what life on your separate home planets is like. You tell her as much as you can about Alternia and the culture there, and she describes her life on Earth, specifically in this town. 

The doors are finally opened, and everybody rushes inside. You try to stay close to Kanaya since she’s the only one you know. 

“Do you know where the fuck we’re going?” You mumble to her.

“Probably to the gym to drop off our bags, or at least that’s my first guess.”

“There’s a gym here?”

“Of course there’s a gym here.” Kanaya replies, her tone suggesting that should be obvious. She glances at you, and you see something akin to realization cross her face. “Oh right, you might not be aware. Do you know where we are right now?”

“Music camp?”

“Yes,” she laughs, “technically you’re right. The camp itself is run by volunteers from the high school’s music department. They host the camp inside the school. Actually, this would be a good opportunity for you to get used to the building’s layout before school starts.”

“Do you think I’ll have time to do that?” The crowd comes to a near standstill. Everyone’s forming themselves into something resembling a line. Apparently the people in charge want you to enter the gym single file for some damn reason.

“If I remember correctly, the counselors aren’t particularly strict about kids wandering around unsupervised.” The line moves. Kanaya is nearing the front. “And the classes themselves only take up a few hours of the day, so you should have plenty of time to gain your bearings while camp is in session.”

There’s some guy with a clipboard and the tight lipped smile worn solely by teachers who are sick of students but are only a few more years from retirement. “Name?”

“Kanaya Maryam.” She states evenly, spelling it for him so it’s easier to locate on his sheet. He marks it down and lets her go. You do the same as Kanaya and walk into the gym after her.

The gym...is fucking huge. And bright. Why the everloving bulgefuck would anyone need an area this huge and blindingly lit just for recreation? Particularly in a place dedicated to education?

You glare up at the lights (okay, more like squint because as you said it’s bright as radioactive shit) and you honestly don’t give a fuck about the why of the lights anymore. Right now all you want to do is punch them out. Probably with a heavy ball. Preferably with your fist.

You train your eyes on the ground because your eyes are starting to burn. The lights will still be there for you to continue your feud later, for now you need to find someplace to dump your shit and then look for Kanaya again. You came in right after her, and yet you still lost her to the crowd.

You find a big enough empty space to drop everything and start scanning the crowds for her. She really shouldn’t be that hard to find, given the easily visible length of her horns.

Despite this, she finds you first. “Karkat, over here!”

You stumble your way over at the sound of your name. You have to push through groups of people to get to her. She’s sitting on the floor with another girl, both of them are pulling things out of their bags and setting them on the ground beside them.

Kanaya introduces the other girl as Jade, a close friend of hers. She smiles and offers her hand up to you. You take it and introduce yourself. Her grip is stronger than you expected, you hear a couple of your fingers crack. She pulls you down so you’re sitting on the floor with them.

“Nice to meet you!” She says. She has glasses and something metal on her teeth that you want to ask about. 

“Jade’s been helping me with my guitar lessons.” Kanaya says before you have the chance to say anything.

“I actually play bass, but I do know how to play the guitar unlike the person Kanaya originally tried to get to help her practice.” Jade gives Kanaya a knowing look, and Kanaya looks down and rummages around in her bag, her face flushed green. “Do you play anything, Karkat?”

“No.”

“Oh.” She tilts her head inquisitively, her dark hair tumbling over one shoulder. “Well what the fuck are you doing at music camp, then?”

“I don’t know.” You admit. “It’s not like I don’t know bulge about music, though. I can recognize the melodies from all the songs in my favorite movies, I could probably play them on something pretty well. I know all the words to the popular music on the radio. All the cavern songs. I’m not a complete shit idiot on the subject.” 

You haven’t broken eye contact with Jade since you started talking. The weight of her gaze is heavier than you expected. You can tell she doesn’t believe you. 

“Okay, you know what? Fuck, I’ll admit it, I’m a panless asshole. I can’t tell my wastechute from one of your human music devices. Congratulations, you exposed me! I really am an idiot whose aural cavities are stuffed full of shit. I don’t know what I’m doing or why I’m here! Thanks for making that obvious, Jade, nice work! I am literally shitting my self with gratitude, wallowing in a steaming stink pile of my own appreciation towards you, and soon there will be so much of it we’ll all just fucking drown in it. I hope you’re happy about this, Jade, because-”

“Holy shit, can you stop talking?” Jade interrupts you midsentence. She looks pissed, and you can feel the aggravation coming off her in waves. You keep your mouth shut because if you’re being honest with yourself, she looks scary as fuck and you don’t want to know what’s going to happen if you make it worse. “I’m not sure what happened, because I definitely didn’t say anything to cause a weird tantrum like that, but why you’re here doesn’t matter! I mean, yeah, you not knowing how to play an instrument or anything is weird, but camp is as good a place as any to start learning. No one cares that you don’t know music.” 

Your shoulders sag a little, you hadn’t realized how tense you’d gotten when Jade started talking.  
“What _does_ matter,” she continues, and you tense right back up again. “is that you said some pretty loud and nasty stuff just now, mainly directed at me even though I didn’t do anything, which is a total dick move on your part. If you were just some random person I was talking to, I would have punched you and never talked to you again. But since Kanaya said you were okay I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt.”

Jade inches closer on her knees and socks you hard in the arm. “You’re on thin ice.”

You take the warning to heart. “Fine.” 

Kanaya hasn’t said anything this whole time. The only sound between the three of you now is just her continuing to empty her bag. Just how much shit did she bring with her? 

“Hey, Kanaya, what’s this?” You pick up a small bottle filled with a suspiciously thick green liquid. It kind of looks like blood. You sincerely hope it’s not.

“Oh, that?” She takes the bottle from your hand and sets it back on the floor. “It’s just nail polish.”

“There’s colored nail polish?”

“Why would you bring that?” Jade laughs.

Kanaya shrugs. “I saw no reason not to bring it. And to answer your question, Karkat, yes. Most nail polishes here are.”

“That’s weird.” What the fuck’s the point of coloring it? As dumb as you think it is, you can’t stop staring at it. There’s so many colors, one close to every blood color and then some.

Kanaya catches you staring. “Did you want to paint yours, Karkat?”

You can‘t use any of those colors. “Do you have black?” 

 

The three of you are sitting close together and painting each other’s nails. You have no idea how this came about, but you now have one of Jade’s hands in yours and are trying your best to paint evenly onto her nails. 

“You’re not very good at this.” She comments as you clumsily smear green onto her finger, nearly missing the nail entirely.

“Fuck you, this brush is small.”

“Karkat, you mentioned the cavern songs earlier, right?” Kanaya inquires as she examines her still drying nails. “Or did I hear you wrong?”

“Yeah, I think I said something about them.” You accidentally put too much on Jade’s middle finger and try to smooth out the green with the tiny ass brush. “Why?”

“I’ve never met anyone who remembers them, aside from vague snippets. You’re saying you do?”

“Vividly. Shit’s stuck in my pan all the damn time. They’re all auricular dirt noodles.”

Jade wiggles her fingers, smudging some of the nail polish onto your hand. “What are you talking about?”

“Cavern songs.” Kanaya explains. “The jadebloods sing them to grubs to comfort them and help them go to sleep. Most trolls don’t need them past their first sweep because they have access to sopor by then, so they forget them.”

You had no idea people forgot the cavern songs, you’d never mentioned them to anyone before. Then again, you guess you never really had the opportunity to forget them. You never felt safe on Alternia, so you self soothed with songs from your wrigglerhood to get you through all the hard days and, more recently, the difficult nights.

Not that you’d ever share that information with anyone.

“So they’re lullabies?” 

“Yes.” Kanaya nods. “They’re lullabies. Most of them have been forgotten here, though. Something happened when we came here and the songs were lost. Now we supplement the missing songs with earth lullabies, but it’s not the same.”

“I could write down what I remember, if you want.” You offer as you concentrate on Jade’s pinkie. “All the words, the melodies and shit. I think I could get it all down if I tried.”

Kanaya considers your offer, chewing on her bottom lip with uncertainty. “Karkat, you’d have to transcribe the song using human musical notation, right? I can’t read Alternian music very well. Are you sure you want to deal with that? Just having the lyrics back would be more than enough.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” You shrug off her concern as you replace the cap on the nail polish. “How hard can it be?”

 

As it turns out, very hard. Very very fucking hard. In your first class you learn what a piano is and see your first piece of sheet music. 

Once again, your confusion is written all over your face. You’re taken aside and informed that the teachers were made aware of your circumstances (that you don’t know anything about music at all) and they tell you that you can ask for help from any of them if you need it. You decline.

You have a class about the basics of music. You’re completely lost, but you don’t bother to admit it because the few other people there seem to understand what’s going on and honestly, it’s not all that important to you to begin with. There’s also choir, which is okay and more your speed. Yeah, you can’t read any of the notes at all, but you can carry a tune and match pitch pretty well.

Afterwards someone gives you some simple sheet music to practice with. You only know it’s simple because you were told it’s simple. You have no fucking idea what it means. You’re musically illiterate. 

You don’t mention that and instead thank them for the music. The plan now is to practice at some point when the auditorium is empty. That also turns out to be easier said than done, there are people in and out of the auditorium all god damn day. Apparently it’s a high traffic area. People take their practicing very seriously here.

Before you know it, the day is officially over and you’re herded into the gym with the rest of the kids. You spend about a half hour talking with Kanaya and Jade before someone calls lights out. So far, they’re the only people you’ve befriended, if you can really call what’s going on right now friendship.

Fuck, you hope it is.

You drag your feet over to your sleeping bag before the lights are shut off. You’re not tired at all, but you’re used to that by now. You’re just going to lay on the ground and stare at the ceiling until the lights are turned back on and you’re told you can get up again. 

An hour into laying around and doing nothing, it occurs to you that everyone is here in the gym. That means, for the first time all day, the auditorium is finally free. 

Now is as good a time to practice as any.

You wait another half an hour to make sure everyone’s asleep before you sneak off. You take your sheet music and a pen and step carefully over all the sleeping bodies surrounding you. Somehow, you make it all the way to the door without incident. 

There’s even less incident when you exit the gym for the dark and empty hallway. You walk slow and as quietly as possible, which isn’t hard given you’re walking around in your socks. The auditorium is also unlocked, and some idiot left a couple of the lights on. 

There’s a piano up on the stage. You set up your music and just stare at it. There are so many notes on the sheet, most of them look like they’re repetitive, but you don’t know which of the keys they correspond to. 

You press down on one of the keys. The note rings out and echoes in the cavernous room. It’s so shockingly loud in contrast to the silence that you almost flinch.

Figuring out how to play this is going to take you all fucking night.

Good thing you don’t have anything better to do with your time.

 

It’s been hours and you don’t know this simple fucking song and you feel like such a fucking dumb asshole right now. You’ve made zero headway since you got here. You don’t know what this song is supposed to sound like, so you can’t even tell if you’re playing it right in the first place. You don’t understand this system of notation at all and how it applies to this instrument. You don’t know how this tune is supposed to go. None of this makes sense. All you have to show for your time wasted here is a burning hatred for pianos and a vessel in your pan that’s fit to burst.

You’re stupid and you don’t know shit.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHAAAAAHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” You scream as you smash the keys with every ounce of energy you have left in you. 

You’re done. You are so fucking done. Let this horribly jarring cacophony be your swang song, because you are finished, you don’t give a shit. Fuck this. Fuck this song. Fuck music. Fuck pianos. Fuck this planet. Fuck your whole god damn life. 

You hate everything right now but most of all yourself.

You pound on the keys emphatically a couple more times before you finally give up and rest your head on them in defeat. Your moan is the same tone as the notes your forehead makes contact with. They fade out together in an unsatisfying and weak harmony. 

All is quiet again. After all the noise you just made, it’s kind of stifling. 

There’s a soft crackling noise above you that you think originates from one of the speakers. You think nothing of it.

A few seconds later, the crackling is replaced with a voice.

“Hey I don’t mean to be that guy, but you should probably be keeping loud noises like whatever the fuck that just was so we don’t get in trouble for being in here, you get me?”

You sit up and look around. Has there been someone else here the entire time? “Who the fuck are you?”

“Who the fuck am I? Like, right now? As we speak?” The voice responds. “Because if we’re talkin’ big picture, grand scheme of things sort of deal, that’s a pretty heavy question that I’m not prepared to answer without delving into some deep philosophical bullshit that I don’t think either of us wants or has the time for.”

“Yes, asswit. Who are you right in the fucking now?” There’s only one place someone could hide from you and be able to communicate through the speakers...

“I don’t know, some guy in a booth?”

Just as you thought. There, all the way across the auditorium, is the sound booth. Inside is a vaguely humanoid shape, specific features too far away to make out.

“Okay, random fuckface in a booth,” you sit up and face the sound booth, “you’ll be happy to hear that I’m done making noise for the night. Possibly forever. Please excuse me while I collapse face first on the floor and wait patiently for my self loathing to press so heavily against me I sink deep into the flaming bowels of this garbage planet.”

You stand up to do just that, only for the voice to interrupt you. “I didn’t say you had to stop making noise altogether, dude. All I said was that you have to quiet the fuck down or we’ll both get caught here and you won’t get to keep practicing whatever that shit is you were working so hard on.”

“Why the hell do you care if I keep practicing or not?” You lay down on the floor on your back. “Are you getting off to my discordant rage and frustration, you weird fuck?”

“I’ll admit, that last bit where you screamed and punched the piano for like five minutes was hilarious, but other than that it was mostly dull. Impressive that you spent so much time trying to play this shit even though you clearly have no idea what the fuck you’re doing, but yeah mostly dull.”

“I’m glad you were having such a fucking good time at my expense, but I’m done now. I give up.”

“Seriously? After all those hours you spent pounding on the keys you’re just gonna quit? That’s lame as fuck, dude, things were just getting interesting.” The voice whines.

You lean on your elbow and glare up at the sound booth. “Fuck you, I am lame.”

“And a whiney asshole baby, apparently.” You can practically hear the eye roll. “You’re really just going to give up as soon as things get a little hard? You do realize that means you stayed up all night and got your boxers in a bunch halfway up your rectum for nothing, right?”

“As if I was going to sleep tonight, anyway.” You scoff as you get up. You think you’re gonna call it a night and go back to the gym. “Good bye, you annoying disembodied piece of shit. I’d say it was nice talking with you but I don’t care enough about your feelings to lie.”

“Wait, are you actually leaving?”

“Yeah? What, me repeating it a million times over wasn’t enough to convince you?” You pick up your sheet music and start to walk off the stage.

“What song were you playing?”

You stop. “What?”

“What song?” The voice prods. “Maybe I could help you with it. You’ve never heard it before, right? And you’re obviously having trouble reading the sheet music. I could find a recording of it or something on my phone and you could at least listen to the song so you know what it’s supposed to sound like.”

You’re suspicious of the guy in the sound booth. What reason would he have to help you? What does he gain? Despite your suspicions, you don’t move from your spot. “Why the fuck would you do that?”

“Fuck, can’t a bro just help another bro out?” He asks. “Seriously, as funny as it was to watch you just hit random keys in total utter confusion for a couple hours, I do think you deserve a hand. You seem way out of your element here.”

You hate to admit that he has a point there. “Twinkle twinkle little star.”

“What?”

“Twinkle twinkle little star. That’s the song.” You repeat. “Do you know it?”

“Yeah, of course I know it. Everyone over one knows it. Holy shit, are you saying you don’t?”

You bristle defensively. “I’m leaving!”

“Sorry, wait!” The guy pleads. “Listen, I got the song loaded up on here ready to play whenever and I also got all the notes for it right here if you need those, too. I’ll shut up and you can sit your ass back down at that piano and listen to the song, okay? That cool?”

You take a hesitant step back towards the piano. “And you’ll really shut up?”

“Yeah. Unless you have a question or something. Other than that, my lips will be locked tighter than Rockefeller’s oyster vault.”

“Okay fine, you convinced me,” you sit back down at the piano, your arms crossed over your chest as you stare down at the keys, “play it.”

And he does. And it’s so short and so fucking simple you can’t believe it. You’ve been struggling with it for hours. What the fuck.

“So?” He asks once the song ends. “Do you think that helped at all?”

“Yeah, I think so.” You nod. At least you know what it’s supposed to sound like now. “I think I’ve heard some of those notes before. Can you play it again?”

And the guy plays the song for you again, and again and again and so many times that you lose count while you hunt around for the right notes. It takes you awhile, but after a little less than another hour you’re able to play a shaky and pause filled version of the song.

But you played it. You played it and that’s what matters.

Fucking finally.

You’re so relieved to have this entire ordeal over with you can literally feel the stress lift off your shoulders. You never would have gotten through this if it weren’t for that guy in the sound booth. Maybe you should go up there and thank him. Ask him if he wants to walk back to the gym with you.

Yeah. Yeah, you should do that.

You stand and head towards the sound booth. You throw open the door, but it’s empty. Whoever it was left before you could get here.

Oh.

You’re...more disappointed than you expected to be.

Fuck.

You’re about to close the door and head back when something on the back of a chair catches your eye. It’s a sticky note. You peel it off the chair and have to hold it close to your face to read it.

good job dude five hours and one breakdown and you’re already piano master you’re a fast learner keep up the good work

On the bottom there’s a poorly drawn person smiling and giving a thumbs up.

You crumple the note up and shove it in your pocket. “Asshole.” 

 

“So you spent some time with this stranger last night and when you went to talk to him in person he was gone, but he left you a note.” Kanaya reiterates after you tell her all about your late night auditorium venture.

“Yeah, here it is.” You hand her the wadded up note.

You’re sitting in the cafeteria with Kanaya pretending to enjoy something that passes itself off as breakfast. Jade found some of her other friends here during classes yesterday and elected to sit with them instead. You can’t even see her in here, it’s so fucking crowded. It’s also pretty loud, which is working in your favor because this isn’t really something you want anyone to overhear.  
“This is cute.” Kanaya says. “Do you think he’ll be there when you go to practice later tonight?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? Fuck, Kanaya, what if I never see-”

“-hear.” 

“-hear from him again? I didn’t even fucking thank him, I was just an asshole the whole time.” 

“Isn’t you being an asshole just you being yourself?” She raises an eyebrow.

“Thank you, Kanaya.” You grumble as you poke at your breakfast with your fork. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear right now.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“So what have you been doing?” You ask. “What’s been going on with you, Kanaya?”

“Not too much, really.” She shrugs. “To be perfectly honest there’s a particular girl who’s caught my eye recently, but I haven’t made much headway with her.”

“Oh really?” You lean forward, intrigued. “What’s she like? Tell me about her.”

Kanaya doesn’t require much prompting. “She’s pretty,” Kanaya smiles, “and she’s mysterious and funny and smart. She plays the violin and it sounds almost as beautiful as she is.”

“Wow,” her description of this girl is so sweet that you can’t help but smile as she speaks, “she sounds amazing, Kanaya. You said you haven’t been making much headway with her?”

“I haven’t.” She sighs. “I’ve been trying to ask her out for months now, but she hasn’t acknowledged a single one of my advances.” 

“Is she dense or are you just bad at flirting?”

“I don’t know, possibly both? I have to admit flirtation isn’t my strong suit. But I am determined to get my feelings across to her before camp is over.”

“Wait, she’s here? At camp?” You start looking around. “Which one is she?”

“She’s over there.” Kanaya points to a far away table. “Try not to be too obvious.”

All you can see is the back of her head. Across from her you can see Jade and some guy in sunglasses. You’re trying to will the other girl to turn around, but all you get is the guy staring back and giving you a weird look.

You look back to Kanaya. “I really hope that happens for you, Kanaya. If you need any help with that, let me know. I’m kind of an expert on these things.”

“Are you?” She laughs. “Well, thank you, Karkat, I doubt I will be seeking out your expertise, but I appreciate the offer. If you need any help with your auditorium phantom, I’d be happy to help you with that, too.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think I’ll be taking you up on that, either. I probably won’t hear from him again.”

 

You spend all day in your classes, and even though you don’t understand all that much you do understand more than you did the day before. At lunch you ask Kanaya to help you figure out all the names of the notes you worked on yesterday. 

At the end of the day you write down the words to one of the cavern songs. As you do this, it occurs to you that learning that song yesterday was the easy part.

Transcribing the cavern song from Alternian to human music notation when you don’t even know the original Alternian?

Hard as hell.

Well, at least this time you know what the fuck it’s supposed to sound like.

You wait until late in the night again to go back to the auditorium. You’re going to need as much time on that piano as you can get. 

You walk into the auditorium with your lyrics and your pencil to write the notes down in the margins. It’s quiet, and the lights are on again. You wonder if the guy is in here.

You remind yourself that it doesn’t matter if he’s in here or not. That’s not what you’re here for. You have more important things to do.

You sit at the piano and hum the melody to yourself, maybe you can determine which you’re supposed to start with before playing it like this. Your fingers are hovering over the keys.

You hum it again. You think you know the first note. 

You press it and...yeah, it sounds right. That’s the one. You’re certain of it.

You’re pretty sure Kanaya said that one was F. You write it down so you don’t forget it.

You go through the same process for the next note, and the note after that. It’s a meticulous, slow, and boring process, but it’s okay. Sometimes you can be patient, and this song happens to be one of your favorites. It’d be a damn shame if no one else got to hear it.

You’re so lost in your slow work that you almost jump at the sound of the speaker crackling.

“What are you working on now?” The sound booth guy asks through static. “That shit doesn’t sound like Twinkle twinkle little star. ”

“It’s not.” You don’t turn to address the sound booth and the person inside it. Your eyes are trained on the keys in front of you. You plunk one, but it doesn’t sound right. “I don’t know what the title translates to.”

“Oh. It’s a song from your home planet, then?” 

“Yeah.” You play another note. This one seems right. You write it down.

“So I guess you won’t be needing any help then.” He sounds a little...disappointed? No, that can’t be right. 

“No, I won’t.” Another note. Wrong. “You can stay, though. Listen to some real music for a change instead of your simplistic earth dirt sound.”

“That’s some big talk for a guy that broke down crying because he couldn’t play a beginner’s kid song the other day.” He replies tauntingly.

“I didn’t cry!”

“Yeah, but you were close.” 

“Fuck off!”

“Make me.” 

You snort but don’t reply. The guy in the sound booth doesn’t say anything for awhile either. The only sound is you, humming and plucking carefully at the piano.

“Did you get my note?” 

“Yeah.” You reply. “You’re a shitty artist.”

“Wow, way to kick a guy straight in the sack. I’ll have you know that was probably the best work I ever did.”

“Well that’s sad, because looking directly at it gave me a a stroke and made me lose function in one half of my pan for an hour.”

“Fuck, I was going for two hours.”

“I wouldn’t pursue art as a career if I were you.” You continue, “Unless making people shit out their internal organs by the sheer force of their revulsion is what you were going for.”

“Bro, you just described the dream. That’s literally all I want to do with my life. I wanna hang in the Louvre and then swim around in their liquidy insides. I’ll be such hot hot shit that everyone will have no choice but to melt into inferior shit while looking at it. Like Medusa but sicker, yknow? I’ll get some bomb ass dark glasses so I don’t go all Frankenstein and die at the hands of my own messed up but sweet as hell creation. Then I’ll buy a boat and row around in all the shit flooding the halls, singing like one of those romantic Italian boatman. It’ll be an offally good time.”

“I didn’t understand half of what you just said and I really don’t think I want to.” You write down another note. You feel like you’ve been at this for hours, but you only have the first line done.

This song’s a fuckton longer than Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

This is going to take you all night, at least.

Sound booth guy goes quiet again. You keep humming and playing.

You get five more notes down before you hear him clear his throat. “You speak English pretty well for a guy fresh off the space boat.”

What the fuck’s that supposed to mean? “Of course I am? I was taught Earth languages as soon as I was out of the breeding caverns. All Alternians are.”

“Wait, so you’re saying you know every language? Every fucking language?” He says in disbelief.

“Every language of the nation’s we’ve established major trade with, yeah.” You nod. “Not just earth, other planets, too.”

“Holy shit, you’re busy being a lingual genius and I’m over here busting my ass off trying not to fail Spanish.”

“Thanks, but I just have normal language skills, by our standards. The only reason I’m even decent at English is because it was popular to learn and I kind of liked the sound of it.” Also most of your favorite movies are in English. “Are you saying you’re not taught Alternian here?”

“I think they teach it in bigger schools, but not here.”

“Would you...” you can’t believe you’re about to suggest this, “want to learn?”

“What, Alternian? Yeah, that’d be pretty cool.”

“I could teach it to you sometime.” You offer. “If you want.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.” You reply. “The fact that I had to cram my pan full of your languages since I pupated and you’ve just been sitting on your ass in complete ignorance is fucking abysmal and want to fix that obvious mistake on this incompetent school system’s part.”

“Wow,” he laughs, “and here I thought you were just trying to do something nice for me.”

“Never make that mistake again, sound booth guy.” 

You get another note down. Then another.

“Dave.” 

You look over to the sound booth and tilt your head in confusion. You can see someone. A figure sitting in a chair, leaning close to whatever device he’s using to speak to you. You can’t make out a face.

“That’s my name.” He says. “It’s Dave.”

“Oh.” You turn back to the piano and play another note. “I’m Karkat.”

You spend awhile longer on the piano, you have three fourths of the song figured out as best you can before you call it a night. Dave hasn’t said anything more since he told you his name. You’re not even sure if he’s still there.

He probably left without saying anything. Just like he did the night before.

You’re probably alone right now.

You get up from the piano without saying anything. Exit the stage. Walk towards the door.

Dave’s voice booms through the quiet. “Good night, dude.”

“Night, Dave.”

You grin ear to ear like an idiot all the way back to the gym.

 

Dave is there the next day, too. You can see him in the booth. Or at least, you think it’s him. You have no idea who else would be in here at late as fuck o’clock. 

He doesn’t say anything when you come in, and you don’t say anything, either. You just get to work. You’re almost done with this one. You’re going to start on another one tonight, though. You think you should be able to finish it before camp is over in a few days.

The end of the song is easier to figure out than the rest. It’s almost identical to the beginning. 

All you have to do now is make sure it all sounds right as a whole. You haven’t played it as a whole song yet, only separate notes. 

You take a deep breath and hope to mother grub you did this right. You don’t want to start over again. 

You hum as you play. It takes you longer to get through the whole song on the piano than it does to sing, but it sounds good. It sounds correct.

You play it again, just to make sure.

Holy shit, you did it. 

“That’s a really nice song.” Dave says. “Is that the one you were working on yesterday?”

“Yeah.” You nod. You can‘t stop smiling, you‘ve never been so proud of yourself. “This is it.”

“Hey, you’re in the choir program, right?” 

That question came out of fucking nowhere. “Yes?”

“I was wondering...” he says slowly, uncertain, “I heard you humming along to it earlier. Would you mind singing it? The song? I’ve never heard a song from another planet before. If you want you could consider it my first lesson in Alternian.”

“Well fuck, Dave, how do you expect me to say no if you beg like that?” You roll your eyes. “Sure, you pathetic barkbeast in human skin, I’ll sing it for you.”

“I just got the image of a dog wearing a person suit like a reverse furry in my head and I think it’s going to be burned into my eyes forever now so thanks for that.”

“I didn’t understand some of those words, but from your tone of voice I bet it’s terrible. You’re welcome.” You reply. “Now shut up so I can sing.”

Dave shuts up, and you take a minute to prepare yourself. You’ve never really sang in front of another person before, never by yourself. You squeeze your eyes shut and pretend Dave’s not there. That you’re going to sing this song to yourself like you have a million times before.

You play the first note, and you sing. Your voice is soft, sometimes it trembles, but it’s audible and for the most part, confident. As you sing you can feel yourself relax. And stress you had is pushed to the back of your pan. Pain, physical, emotional, numbed. Your fears are small now, insignificant.

You didn’t know you were feeling bad, but you feel better.

The last note wavers, and finally the song ends.

You rub your eyes with your hand and look expectantly over to the sound booth.

“Well?” Your speaking voice is so much louder than when you’re singing, it’s almost jarring. “What did you think.”

“I liked it.” His words are almost completely swallowed up in a yawn. “I’m sorry, I liked it, I swear, I’m just really fucking tired for some reason.”

“That’s what it’s supposed to do, but I didn’t expect it to have such a big impact on human wrigglers.”

“I have a feeling that was an insult, but I’m too tired to care.” Dave yawns again.

“Do you want me to take you back to the gym to sleep, Dave?” You ask. You might go to bed, too. You feel like you might actually be able to sleep tonight.

“No, I’m gonna sleep here.” He says. “I usually sleep here. Fuck ton of people in the gym. Shit’s uncomfy.”

You nod. “Yeah, I get it. I’ll leave so you can sleep.”

“Thanks.”

You get up and start walking towards the door. You’re halfway out before he calls back out to you.

“Karkat?” You can practically hear his grip on consciousness slipping.

“Yeah?” 

“Your voice is really pretty.”

You laugh. “Good night, dumbfuck.”

And with that, you leave. It’s obvious to you as you drag your feet back to the gym that you’re going to have to come back tomorrow. 

Because you didn’t accomplish what you wanted to do tonight.

Not because Dave’s there. Obviously.

Obviously.

 

“Sorry I fell asleep last night.” Dave says the moment you walk into the auditorium. 

You look over to the sound booth and shake your head. “It’s fine. It was a...lullaby, I think was the human word for it. It was supposed to do that.”

“Fuck, really? That was an alien version of a lullaby? What do you guys call it?”

“A cavern song.” You set your stuff up on the piano and take your seat. 

“Hey, before you go and start whatever the fuck you’re doing, I noticed you were playing kinda weird yesterday.”

“Of course I’m playing weird, ass face, I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing!” You snap, slamming some of the keys with your whole hand as emphasis.

“See, that’s the thing! Right the fuck there! Or at least part of the thing.”

“Dave, what the hell are you talking about?”

“You slam the keys too hard, dude. You’re supposed to, like, press on them softly. They don’t call it tickling the ivories for nothing, Karkat.”

“What the fuck, who calls it that?”

“A lot of people. Now come on, try it.” He persuades. “Be gentle.”

You roll your eyes but do it anyway. The note is softer and less harsh than when you played it before, but it’s still the same sound. 

“Yeah, that’s how it’s usually played like.” Dave says. “Now here’s the other thing; bro, you’re only playing with one finger.”

“Am I...not supposed to do that?”

“Nah. You’re supposed to use all five of them.”

“All five? At once?” That sounds so fucking fake. “Like this?”

You press down with all of your fingers at once. The sound produced is awful. There’s no way that’s right.

“No, not like that. You know where C is, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Put your thumb on that one.”

You do it. “Okay, then what?”

“Second one goes on D, middle on E, and you’re not a total moron so I’m guessing you get the pattern by now.”

“Oh. Yeah, I do. Fuck, I’m an idiot.” You sigh. This would have been obvious if your pan wasn’t clogged with shit.

“Dude, shut the hell up, you’re not an idiot. You’re an alien. I actually think you’re doing pretty good considering you’re doing this from scratch.”

“Thanks.” You don’t believe him, but the lie is nice. “So I’m supposed to play it like this?”

“Yeah, like that.”

“That seems weird as shit.”

“Don’t bitch to me about it, I’m not the one who invented it. Maybe play something like that so you get a better feel for it or something.” Dave suggests.

“That’s not a horrible idea.”

“Just one of those things you gotta know about me, Karkat. When you’re someone as full of ideas as I am, sometimes you find a nugget of gold among the turds.”

“That’s disgusting, never open your mouth again.”

He scoffs. “Like you’re one to talk.” 

You start going through Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. “Shut up.”

“And deprive you of my sweet sweet voice to keep you company throughout the night? I would never.”

You finish that one smoothly and play the cavern song. It goes just as well as the first song. Holding your hand like this on the piano is a little uncomfortable, but you think you’ll get used to it soon and it does seem to have good results so far.

“Do you have another thing you’re working on tonight, Karkat?” Dave asks.

“I have another cavern song I was hoping to get done tonight.” You admit. “It’s a lot shorter than the last one so I don’t think it should take me as long.”

You start humming and determining notes. 

“Do you know a lot of cavern songs?”

“More than the average troll, yeah.” You have to move your hand a bit more for this one than you did for the other two songs. This is the first time you’ve used a note below C.

“Why’s that?”

“I don’t know.” You find another note. “I never thought about it before.”

You don’t want to know.

Dave goes quiet and lets you keep working. Before you know it, you’ve finished the song.

“Hey, Dave?” Your fingers are poised to play as you turn to the sound booth. “I’m about to play this song, do you want me to sing? So you can hear the words?”

Dave doesn’t respond immediately. The air feels dead for two whole minutes.

“Yeah.” He finally says. All the tension leaves your shoulders. “That would be good.”

So you do it. You play the piano, and you sing. It’s not your favorite cavern song, but right now it feels perfect. The piano and your voice are both soft, and the words are sweet and comforting. You know Dave doesn’t understand them, but you hope he does understand the feeling in the melody. 

The song ends. You have nothing to say. You look over to the sound booth and wait for Dave to say something instead.

“That was...” he sounds like he’s struggling for the right words, “a great song. I think I got what you were trying to convey, but I still wish I understood the words.”

“Yeah.” You agree. “It’s a really good song.”

A soothing one. Good for calming down after a bad dream in the middle of the day.

“Hey, I know this might sound weird as all hell and you can feel free to say no,” Dave says suddenly, “but would you play it again and could I...record you singing it?”

“You want to record me singing?” 

“Yeah. Listen, if you’re worried about being on camera or something it’s only audio, the only thing getting recorded is your voice. Of course if you’re uncomfortable having that recorded, too, especially by someone you barely know, then that’s fine, too. You don’t have to, I just thought I’d ask because this is a nice song and I think I would like to listen to it again sometime.”

And he thinks your voice is pretty. Can’t forget that. 

You take a minute to consider it.

“I don’t have a problem with you recording me while I sing. That’s alright.” 

“Yeah?”

You nod. “Yeah.” 

“Okay,” You hear Dave fumble around with something, “ready when you are.”

You play the song again. There’s heat rising in your face as you do so because of the recording. You can’t believe he’d want to listen to it, to you, again.

Does he actually like your voice?

Does he actually like you?

Fuck, you don’t know.

The song ends again. Dave thanks you for letting him record it. You tell him it’s no problem, and then you get up and say good night. Dave says it back.

You still don’t know if Dave likes you or not.

As you’re walking down the hall, it occurs to you that there’s only one more full day of camp left.

 

You don’t bring anything with you when you go into the auditorium this time. You also don’t go to the stage, either. 

You walk straight into the sound booth. 

There’s some guy sitting cross legged and hunched over in a chair facing the stage. He’s wearing a ratty t-shirt and pajama pants that look a little too big. He’s stiff. Pushed up into his pale and frizzy hair is a pair of sunglasses. There are dark bags under his eyes. He looks completely shocked to see you.

“Karkat.” He sounds as surprised as he looks to see you here. 

You smile. “Dave.”

It’s nice to finally put a face to a voice.

“What the fuck are you doing in here?” He asks. It sounds a bit harsh, but you think he’s genuinely confused on why you’re in the booth and not out on the piano.

Shit, you hope that’s what’s going on.

“It’s the last night of camp.” You shrug. “I wanted to hang out with you at least once before it’s over.”

“Oh.” Was that not the answer he expected? “Okay. Cool. Yeah, obviously, why else would you be in here, duh.”

He unfolds his legs and stands up. Dave’s taller than you thought he was at first glance. He fumbles around with his sunglasses and slides them back down over his eyes.

“Hey,” he clears his throat, “I’m Dave.”

“I know that, Dave.”

“And I know you know that.” He sighs and hangs his head, a hand runs absently through his hair. “It’s been awhile since I’ve had to talk face to face with people I don’t really know.”

“I don’t like talking to people I don’t know, either.” You admit. “It’s not like that matters, though. This entire fucking planet is populated by strangers.”

“Shit, I’m sorry. That sounds bleak.”

“That’s just how it is. I’m just glad I’m not the only one who thinks it sucks.”

“Yeah.” He smiles. It’s a slight smile, but it’s definitely there. “So, uh...do you want the grand tour?”

“Of your crawlspace?”

“Hey, fuck you! This is a nine and a half by nine and a half foot room. See, I can’t even touch both of the walls!” He waves his arms. “See? Space! Look at all this mother fucking space!”

“Okay, I see your point. It’s not a crawlspace.” You laugh. “But really, what are you gonna do? Introduce me to all the dust motes you just stirred up?”

“No, listen, listen to me, Karkat, I’m in the drama club. I am the resident sound guy. This shit right here? This is my domain, and damn do I have some wild stories to tell about casa audio.”

“Alright, fine. You talk a good game, Dave. I’ll take your tour.”

Dave wasn’t kidding. He did have some wild stories to tell.

“...and over here you’ll see the board that John spilled my special ordered apple pie flavored soda all over and short circuited to the point where we had to call some of the tech kids and bribe them not to tell anybody what happened because food and drinks aren’t allowed in here.”

“I understand all of those words separately, but the way you strung them together was utter nonsense, Dave.”

He claps you on the shoulder. “That’s what it was, dude. Utter nonsense.”

“...If you look up you will see right above you an inexplicable stain that looks a little too much like a human hand if you squint and have an active imagination. Come on, try it, look up at it and squint and then tell me that shit’s not a human hand.”

“It...does kind of look like a hand. What the fuck is it?”

“A hand, we both just said that.”

“No, I mean what kind of fucking stain is that?”

“An inexplicable one.” He replies. “It can not be explained.”

“Oh.” You keep staring up at the stain. “Shit, I think it just gave me the finger.”

“...this thing, this thing right here, Karkat, do you know what it is?” 

“A button?” 

“Not just any button.” Dave replies mysteriously. “The Red Button.”

“What the fuck does the fact that it’s red matter?” You ask.

“Because there’s only the one red button, and nobody knows what it does.”

“Wait, what? You don’t know what it does? Why not? Didn’t this thing come with instructions or some shit?”

“It did.” He nods. “But the Red Button’s not on them. It’s a rogue button. So, since nobody knows what it does, nobody pressed it. Now we just have theories to discuss what the button’s original function was. My sister’s theory is that if we press it it’ll self destruct. Personally, I think it’s a fake button some little shit added just to fuck around with us.”

“Why don’t you just press it and find out?”

“That would ruin the mystery, Karkat.” Dave shakes his head slowly. “Besides, what if it does self destruct? I don’t want to be responsible for that.”

“Good call.”

“And last but not least,” Dave goes to a corner of the room and drags out a sleeping bag, “ta-dah. I already told you the other day that I sleep in here, right?”

“Yeah. Too many people in the gym, you said.” The sleeping bag looks like it’s meant for a single occupant. “Are you expecting us to share that?”

“What? No. This thing’s small as shit, we’d literally be on top of each other. I’m not comfortable with getting all up and snug with somebody until the third date, at least.” 

You know he’s kidding, but the word date catches you off guard and you don’t know how to respond to it. While you’re trying to figure out what to say, Dave rolls the sleeping bag up and puts it back on the floor. He lays down, using the rolled up sleeping bag as a pillow. 

“Come on, Karkat. Get over here and pop a squat.” He pats the space next to him. “There’s enough room here for you.”

“Alright.” You lay down next to him. “What are we supposed to do now?”

“I don’t know.” Dave shrugs. “We could talk some more? I could find a movie or some shit on my phone and we could watch that or something?”

“Yeah.” You nod. “I like both those ideas.”

Dave pulls his phone out of his pocket and starts scrolling through it. You inch closer to see what he’s looking at, but he’s scrolling so fast you can’t read the titles.

He finally settles on something. You think it’s a sitcom. It’s not like it matters what it is, though, you have a feeling you won’t be paying much attention.

Dave’s really close. You can feel how warm he is next to you.

He presses play and holds the phone up in the air so you can both see it. You lean in closer to him so you can see it better, but you’re not really watching.

“Hey, Dave?” You ask after awhile. You think you’re halfway through the episode.

“Yeah?”

“Where’d you go? You said you sleep in here, but you weren’t in here that first night.”

“My sister texted me and asked where I went.” He explains. “I came in here without telling anyone, so I guess my disappearing act worried her.”

“What about you? Do you have any siblings or anything?”

“I didn’t back on Alternia. But now that I’m here, I have an annoying asshole of a brother who never stops spewing verbal diarrhea from the talking anus he calls a mouth.”

“Wow,” Dave laughs, “you say the grossest things, you know that?”

“Yeah, like everything you’ve said has been completely clean and child appropriate.” You roll your eyes.

“You got me there.” He acknowledges. “You and me, Karkat? We’re cut from the same foul mouthed shit rag.”

“Fuck, I feel bad for whoever has to deal with us.”

Yeah.” 

You both lapse into silence again. You have no idea what’s going on in the show.

Dave clears his throat. “Hey, uh...thanks for letting me record you earlier.”

“No problem.”

“No, I mean it. I’ve never heard interplanetary music before, and your voice is...really nice. The combination was fucking fantastic and I appreciate that you letting me record it.”

“Really, it’s fine.” You’re trying and failing not to blush. 

“Would you be willing to let me record you singing again sometime? It doesn’t have to be one of your cavern songs if you don’t want to. Is that weird?” He’s talking fast, scrambling for words. “Sorry, I’m not trying be a creep or anything, you just have a really nice voice. It’s...soothing? You can sing whatever you want, I just want to sample it, maybe use it in my own work in the future? If you’re okay with that? Fuck, this is weird. This is a weird question. I’m sorry, just ignore all of that, it was stupid and-”

“Okay.”

Your interruption surprises him so much that for a moment he’s left fumbling for a response. “What?”

“Okay.” You repeat yourself, more confidently this time. “I’ll do it. I’ll sing for you, if that’s something you’d really want to hear.”

“Yeah. Yes, thank you.” He smiles. “I’d love that.”

The episode ended a couple minutes ago. Dave puts on another one without really looking at it. 

“Hey, would you mind holding this? My arm’s getting tired.”

“Yeah, sure. No problem.” You take the phone from him and hold it up so you can both see. You also inch a little closer. Your head’s almost on his shoulder.

So Dave can see it as well as you can, of course. Not because he’s warm and his shirt is soft. Definitely not because he smells nice.

Of course not.

It’s late. You’re getting sleepy. Your eyelids are so fucking heavy and itchy from lack of sleep. 

“Hey, Dave?” You yawn.

“Did you want me to take the phone back?” He asks.

“Yeah.” You hand it back to him. “That’s not what I was going to say, though.”

“Okay. Then what were you going to say?”

“I was going to thank you.”

“Thank me?” Dave mumbles, confused. “For what?”

“For making camp interesting.” You rub at your eyes with a hand. “This is the best time I’ve had since I left home. Thanks, Dave.”

“You’re welcome, Karkat.” He replies. “I’ve had a good time, too.”

 

You and Dave sleep together in the sound booth until his alarm goes off. You both get up and shuffle out of the auditorium and back to the gym. Dave is holding his sleeping bag close to his chest. You’re still struggling to keep your eyes open.

People are already waking up when you get there. You can see a few glances trained on you and Dave as you walk in. You don’t like it. 

You find yourself unconsciously reaching out for Dave’s hand.

You’re interrupted by a girl with short messy hair, the same color as Dave’s. “I need to talk with you.”

She takes his hand before you can. 

“Okay, sure.” He turns to you. “I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah.” You nod. “See you.”

The girl looks you up and down curiously before giving Dave a knowing look. Dave stares down at his feet, his face is a shade darker than before, you think.

You wave at his back as she drags him away. 

You don’t know if you’re ever going to see him again. You pray to fuck you do.

There’s not much time before camp is officially over. You make sure you have all of your stuff packed up before you lay down on the floor and stare up at the ceiling.

Your view of the ceiling is eclipsed by Kanaya. 

“How was your late night rendezvous with Dave?” She asks.

“Good. How was your confession to Rose?”

“Good.” 

You sit up. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Yes.” Kanaya sits down.

You both trade stories about how your night went. Kanaya’s story is cute and romantic and exactly what you always wished would happen to you. It’s heart meltingly sweet. You’re so happy for her.

Your story feels childish and dull in comparison. Kanaya still seems to enjoy it.

“Well, it sounds like we both had a good time.” Kanaya grins. “Maybe we both have more game than we thought.”

“Yeah,” you snort, “or we found the only people here whose game is worse than ours.”

“Both things are plausible.” She shrugs.

“Did you want what I got done for the cavern songs, Kanaya?” You ask, rummaging through your bag. “I didn’t get them completely finished, they’re not set to sheet music at all, but I do have the words and what notes you’re supposed to use.”

You find the papers in your bag and hand them to her. She examines them, mouthing the words and nodding. 

“These are beautiful lyrics.” She says. “I’d love to hear how they sound when actually played. Since I know how to read and write music and you know how it’s supposed to sound, perhaps we should get together sometime and work on these.”

“Hell yes.” You agree eagerly. “That’d be great.” 

“Do you want to exchange numbers?” 

You reply a little too excitedly at the suggestion. “Yes!”

You trade numbers with Kanaya. You officially have one friend’s number.

...you officially have a friend.

Fuck yes.

You talk with Kanaya a little longer, but eventually there are other people who want her attention. Other friends. She says good bye to you, promises to text you later, and runs off to join the others.

You get a text from your guardian. He says he’ll be there soon and you should get outside so he can pick you up. 

You grab all of your stuff and head out. 

The morning sun is bright, so much so you have to squint. It’s also surprisingly cold.

“Hey, Karkat!” There’s Dave, waving you down by the street curb. He’s got sunglasses on still, lucky bastard.

You join him. “Hey.”

Down the street, you can see your guardian’s vehicle approaching. You don’t want this to be your last interaction with Dave. You’re not ready to go yet.

Dave follows your gaze and turns his head. “Shit, is that your ride, dude?”

“Yeah.” You sigh. “It is. I guess I have to get going, then.”

“Alright. Well then,” he opens his arms up to you, “bring it in, I guess.”

“Oh, uh, okay.” You put down your bag and hug him.

It’s an awkward embrace. You hang on a little too tight and Dave keeps giving you weird pats on the back. It’s obvious that neither of you have much practice doing this.

But...it’s nice. You don’t want to let go.

Dave releases his grip on you, and regretfully, you have to let go, too. He claps a hand onto your shoulder and gives you a final nod before walking away.

Fuck if that wasn’t the most disappointing good bye you’ve ever had.

You pick your bag up. Something flutters off your shoulder and onto the ground. It looks like a sticky note.

You pick it up and read it.

call me if you ever wanna turn that solo act into a duet ;)

At the bottom is a phone number.

You call it.

Dave’s voice is on the other end, it sounds small and tinny. “Hello?”

“Dave, you’re such a fucking idiot.” You can’t stop laughing. “Hey.”

Dave turns around and waves at you, his face is bight red. “I figured we can’t really hang out if we can’t even contact each other, you know?” He shrugs. There’s an easy smile spreading across his face. “So, do you think we’ll see each other soon?”

“Yeah.” You reply. “Soon.”

You hang up and wave good bye to him one more time before heading off towards the car. 

“Hello, Karkat.” Your guardian says as you climb into the vehicle. “Did you have fun?”

“Yeah.” Your phone vibrates in your pocket. You have a text. “I did.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
